America Online to sell over 800 patents to Microsoft for $1.56 bn news

09 April 2012

America Online (AOL), once the titan of the internet, today said it would sell over 800 of its patents and related applications to Microsoft Corp, and grant the software giant a non-exclusive license to the patent portfolio it retains, for $1.56 billion in cash.

AOL said that it has received a license to the patents being sold to Microsoft.

The patent sale includes the sale of an AOL subsidiary, which AOL expects to record a capital loss for tax purposes.

AOL said that it would give a "significant portion" of the sale proceeds to its shareholders.

Following the sale, New York-based AOL will continue to hold a significant patent portfolio of over 300 patents and patent applications spanning core and strategic technologies, including advertising, search, content generation / management, social networking, mapping, multimedia / streaming, and security among others.

"The agreement with Microsoft represents the culmination of a robust auction process for our patent portfolio," said Tim Armstrong, AOL's chairman and CEO. "We continue to hold a valuable patent portfolio as highlighted by the license we entered into with Microsoft.''